The recent 5G roll out marks another turning point for India’s telecom market. However, the telecom sector has been going through a major financial crisis. With a combined debt of around Rs 5 lakh crore, the operators are finding it tough to keep up the investment needed to roll out a network. While the operators have increased tariffs to mop up cash, this has led to services becoming unaffordable for the lower sections of the consumers.

In this podcast, businessline’s Thomas K Thomas examines the critical issues facing the telecom sector with Sanjay Kapoor, former CEO of Airtel, who has been closely associated with the sector for the last two decades and has deep insights into the functioning of the sector.

(Host: Thomas K Thomas, Producer: Nabodita Ganguly)

About the State Of The Economy podcast

India’s economy has been hailed as the bright spot amid the general gloom that seems to have enveloped the rest of the world. But several of its sectors still stutter about even while others seem set to fire on all cylinders. To help you make sense of the bundle of contradictions that the country is, businessline brings you podcasts with experts ranging from finance and marketing to technology and start-ups. Tune in!